[OL-FB2] Great Prospects

[Franco Clarke]

Erwin walked into the commerce section where pier 23 was located. It was an interesting location for a new warship to be located in a merchant sector rather than at one of the imperial docks, but he guessed that's why he wasn't part of organising the harbour. He spotted the Vif from quite a way off, her tall mast stood out amount the smaller fatter traders in the area. She did look good, nice and shiny in the standard naval scheme. As they got closer, more details became apparent. A guard stood close by, and although she was finished, it appeared that she hadn't been completely outfitted yet as there were no guns on her deck.

As they approached the officer in charge of the operation turned to them and said 'Ah Erwin, we figured you'd get the message sooner or later. We did try and get a messenger to you as soon as you arrived back from the patrol but you had vacated the ship by the time he arrived'

'My apologies, is there anything else I should know?' asked Erwin.

'Well I can see you have already met you're second in command who will command your second ship, and that's pretty much it. The Vif is all yours now, and if I can excuse myself we are all very busy'

'Why of course' Erwin replied and stepped aside to let the officer bustle past, followed by his guard.

Erwin turned to look at the Vif.

'Well it'd be rude not too; would you like to come for a little test trip?' Erwin asked Pierre.

'Thank you for the offer but I would rather inspect my own ship, it being my first command' replied Pierre.

'Be my guest, I will let you judge the Saler for yourself and won't cloud your opinion' said Erwin.

A few minutes later and the Vif had freed itself from the jetty and was slicing its way through the waters of the harbour. It punched through the waves, aided by the slightest of breezes which were neatly captured by the large sails. Erwin held the new tiller, rough and unused, guiding the vessel past the larger ships that lay slowly heaving at anchor in the bay. Yes, he thought to himself, This ship had great promise, great promise indeed.

A new ship for the Oleon navy, and my first to be fully rigged and with sails. The design is very simple and based on my previous small ships. I have tried something new for these photographs and used a blank background for the shots of the model on its own.

I hope you like her, and I definitely enjoyed making and rigging her. The main flaw is the mast is very unstable, which clouds doubt over her long term survival.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Fine ship, I like her!

[cb4]

I really like it. Very nice brick-built hull and rigging.

If you're worried about the stability of the mast, you can add backstays from the top of the mast to the stern of the ship. I realize that they're in the way of the mainsail and boom there, but normally fore-and-aft rigged ships would have two running backstays, with one taut and one slack depending on the tack. Otherwise, they'd never be able to keep the masts up

Edited April 9, 2016 by cb4

[kurigan]

She’s simple, elegant and not overly ambitious. I like her. Your sails look pretty good from what I can see.

The shrouds you have could be doing a lot more work for you if you added a block and tackle system, Something like bull’s eyes, dead eyes or just a couple of pulleys belayed off. There are a number of bricks which can be quickly installed to serve the purpose. Though they don’t need to be “drum tight”, just pulled taught, I would then recommend mounting them to the side of the hull rather than the top of the rail so they don’t pull off.

I’m curious as to why you have two masts joined rather than one continuous? It’s not at all necessary on such a small ship and may be contributing to your stability issues. Also having a gaff sail span both is odd and would misshape the sail. Could those mast pieces not have been stacked? (I find it hard to tell which ones they are from the image.)

What you have here kind of reminds me of this thing I did, which development eventually lead to Bumblebee. I don’t know, but maybe there’s something helpful or inspirational in there.

[Bregir]

Wow, mr. Clarke - that is a great improvement I really liked the story, but the highlight is the cutter.

First of all, I really like the snotted hull with the studs up railing. The general shape is nice, especially around the bow and stern - the colours are perfect, and that tiller and rudder works really well.

The rigging is pretty good too - and I really think the rigging adds a lot to the overall look.

I think the topsail rigging is really good for this vessel, and she looks really fast and agile. I agree with Kurigan that for a vessel this size, the mast would typically be in one piece. (On larger vessels, it would be in two, three or four pieces, very much like you have constructed yours.) The sails have a really nice colour and texture .

A few comments:

With a mast in one piece, you could get stability by putting tension on forestay, shrouds, and then adding backstays. (From the top of the mast to each side of the railings around the place where the yellow parts start.)

Further, I would bring the boom of the mainsail (spanker sail) down to only just allow minifigs to pass under it, and bring the front of the sail close to the mast.

All in all, very good work! I really like her, and enjoyed the story too!

[Jacob Nion]

Looks way too fast to get caught by us bloody sea rats Great work on the rigging!

[Franco Clarke]

Thank you for all your replies, I am glad you liked her! Thank you also for all the suggested improvements, which make sense especially once I'd done a little more research into terminology. However I don't think I'll make any changes to her, and apply the improvements instead to future builds.

I’m curious as to why you have two masts joined rather than one continuous? It’s not at all necessary on such a small ship and may be contributing to your stability issues. Also having a gaff sail span both is odd and would misshape the sail. Could those mast pieces not have been stacked? (I find it hard to tell which ones they are from the image.)

Thank you for the advice, I do like those two ships very much, I think that I might borrow a few bits of the design, if you don't mind? As to the masts, it's both of the old-style top mast designs stuck together, and I originally put it on this boat just to judge what it would look like with a mast, but then the effect grew on me, so it stayed.

Further, I would bring the boom of the mainsail (spanker sail) down to only just allow minifigs to pass under it, and bring the front of the sail close to the mast.

Thank you, I'm glad that you think she's an improvement over my previous attempts. I would indeed have liked to lower the boom down a bit, and I recognise that it's too high at the moment, but due to the limitations with the masts I chose, I couldn't find a stable way of getting it lower. However I have enjoyed making this one so much that I think I will probably assemble a sister ship, to incorporate all these improvements!

[TitusV]

Very Nice ship, you're defenitely improving

[Franco Clarke]

Thank you, I'm glad you like her!

[Asgon]

Damn a wonderful little cutter, it looks just perfect. I can really imagine seeing this approaching in the horizon.

And the shadow... I never thought about that, but your pictures gives hints of quite a beautiful shadow. I'll remember that :)

[Gideon]

Nice ship, especially the hull!

When it comes to the photography I have a weak spot for nice clean backgrounds

Just mind the lighting so that if you want a shadow that it falls in the direction you want. If you don't want a shadow I suggest at least 2 similarly colored light sources.

[Franco Clarke]

Damn a wonderful little cutter, it looks just perfect. I can really imagine seeing this approaching in the horizon. And the shadow... I never thought about that, but your pictures gives hints of quite a beautiful shadow. I'll remember that :)

Thank you, I'm glad you liked my photos

Nice ship, especially the hull! When it comes to the photography I have a weak spot for nice clean backgrounds Just mind the lighting so that if you want a shadow that it falls in the direction you want. If you don't want a shadow I suggest at least 2 similarly colored light sources.

Thank you, I shall have to source a second light, that should help the photo's of just the build alone.

[Maxim I]

Looks like this one slipped throug my attention, but I really like it! Great job with the rigging!

[blackdeathgr]

Looks like this one slipped throug my attention, but I really like it! Great job with the rigging!

I missed that build too and i am an Oleander!!! Seriously from 25th till 31st of each month, MOCs fly by...!!! FC this ship is very nice with a very natural curved hull and her rigging and sails are a thing i would like to try myself as i like small to medium sized ships of that era A LOT. I am glad we have such ships in our fleet!

[Franco Clarke]

Thank you, I'm glad you all liked her!

[Jacob Nion]

Great hull design! You're really improving on the small vessels.